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Post by reluedders on Jun 28, 2024 13:16:31 GMT
There's a quote on pigs 14 where Binx says "For, as everyone knows, the polls report that 98% of Americans believe in God and the remaining 2% are atheists and agnostics- which leaves not a single percentage point for a seeker. For myself, I enjoy answering polls as much as anyone and take pleasure in giving intelligent replies to all questions."
I was thinking about this a lot, and I feel like there really are only 2 types of people, and not a seeker. I think that you either believe there is a higher power, or that there isn't. Being in the middle really isn't a thing. I know people go back and forth, but you stand on one side or the other.
I also wonder how accurate these stats would be at this time, in 2024.
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Post by mjunious on Jun 29, 2024 6:13:35 GMT
He groups agnostic (which could be a seeker since an agnostic does not believe or disbelieve) with atheists so the stats are inherently inaccurate. I think for Percy's purposes, this statistic appearing early in the book is a narrative set up that is not meant to be taken literally. It will be interesting to see how, if at all, his interpretation of these stats change as his arc progresses. For some, [g]od can be, what Carl Jung refers to, as the Self. So to be a seeker means that one is simply engaging with the experience of individuation through the spirit (process) that pushes towards development. This relates to the existential situation, that Bolling has to figure out through the course of the book via his "search". At his core is Bolling a womanizer because of how he treats his secretaries, a financial savant because of his success as a broker, a simple moviegoer as the title would suggest, or is there something more to him? Will we see a sort of harmonious actualization between his conscious and unconscious self? I have not read that far so I can not answer that question...yet?
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 3, 2024 1:46:32 GMT
This reminds me of the Leap of Faith discussion I had with Dr. Nemmers. We discussed how there are people who have faith only in name, in comparison to having taken the leap of faith and becoming a living embodiment of faith. I do think that this quote is very black and white, and often society sees faith as black and white, but I do think there is a great deal of people in the midst of their leap who are reaching out, yet still have doubts that weigh their opinions to disbelief.
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Post by connorswauger on Jul 3, 2024 2:14:08 GMT
I don’t necessarily agree that you’re either on one side or the other. Jake is in himself the “seeker” because he is trying to find his own purpose. Later on the same page he ponders, “Have 98% of Americans already found what I seek or are they so sunk in everydayness that not even the possibility of the search has occurred to them?” (Percy 14)
This brings me back to our discussions on Absurdism where someone may begin to realize that existence may be all together meaningless and then it becomes a task for the individual to assign meaning to their lives. Sometimes that is religion, but Binx seems to be in that stage of deciding on what gives life meaning.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 3, 2024 4:55:27 GMT
Right, and I do think it's possible for one to be a believer and also a seeker-- I know many people (and would consider myself to have been one at times) who simultaneously believe but are still looking for more, or trying to figure out religion, or just seeking a closer spiritual connection. One thing that might be relevant here is that Walker Percy himself was apparently a very devout Catholic and spent much of his life devoted to that Church. He converted to Catholicism by choice and wrote freely and widely in Catholic publications. This is from much later but still intriguing: crisismagazine.com/vault/why-are-you-a-catholic-the-late-novelists-parting-reflectionsAs the biography at the bottom claims, "His work displays a unique combination of existential questioning, Southern sensibility, and deep Catholic faith." So, I don't think the author of this novel is an atheist at all... seems like he is trying to explore what it means to be a "modern man" who has faith but also lives in the world... |
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